What Hath Einstein Wrought?

Editor's Note

June / July 2005 By: Bob Cochnar Volume 3 Number 3

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Albert Einstein may well have been the greatest brain since Newton, but being extraordinarily smart did not leave him without a sense of humor. Here's how he explained his theory of relativity:

"An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour."

A century ago, Einstein published his special and general theories of relatively, thereby upsetting the world of physics and forever changing how we view the universe. To commemorate that earth-shaking year, we are celebrating the International Year of Physics, which means—€”at the very least—€”we should take a physicist to lunch.

TechComm is celebrating, too, in this issue by publishing a pair of essays on Einstein written exclusively for us by two distinguished physicists: John Marburger, science advisor to the president and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Paul Robinson, the former president of Sandia Çorporation and director of Sandia National Laboratories. We're honored to have their contributions.

Einstein, by the way, was also something of a philosopher who once observed, "Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theaters is apt to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life."

We've taken another giant step forward in the understanding of our physical world through the advent of supercomputing. Some of the fastest computers are housed in Department of Energy laboratories where their extraordinary speed makes three-dimensional simulations possible. As LANL's Charles Osolin notes, "Powered by the dramatic increase in supercomputer speed over the last decade, today's simulations can mimic the physical world down to the interactions of individual atoms—€¦Simulations can test theories, reveal new physics, guide the setup of new experiments and help scientists understand past experiments. Within the past few years, simulations have taken their place alongside theory and research as essential elements of scientific progress."

Entrepreneurs especially will be interested in the article by Rich Mirsky that begins on Page 24. He writes about Title III of the Defense Production Act.
Although it has been around for a half-century, apparently not very many people know about it. Mirsky, who recently retired as program manager of the Title III program at the Defense Department, says that although the program has been used primarily by Defense, "Title III authority is available to all federal agencies."

And here's why entrepreneurial antennae ought to be raised:

"Title III is especially appropriate for small companies lacking the capital needed to bring a good idea to market, a situation some have termed the Valley of Death," he writes.

"The Title III process can be an effective way to address the problem. While there are many government organizations that fund research and development and many others that buy high-tech items, only the Title III program has the authorities sometimes needed to help suppliers bridge the gap from prototype to full-scale production."

Mirsky's article provides some fascinating detail and you can find more information at the Defense Production Act Title III web site (www.acq.osd.mil/ott/dpatitle3.)

Enjoy this issue. As always, your comments are welcome. Send them to letters@techcommjournal.org.